The three people were dressed in drab hospital scrubs and wore hats with wide brims, probably to keep any passing satellites from taking their pictures. Their heads hung down, and their shoulders were slumped. They walked like they had given up on life. When the only woman lifted her head, Lucy got a good look at her face. She looked familiar.
Lucy whispered. “I know her.”
“Who is it?” Johnny asked in a voice so low Lucy almost missed the question.
Lucy focused in on the two men walking along with the woman. When she caught a look at their faces, they seemed haggard and tired, but she remembered seeing their pictures, as well as the woman’s, in agency alert bulletins over three months ago. Now if she could just put names to their faces. “Hilda … Helga, Helga Van, Von … Von Strauss.” Lucy kept her eyes on the trio being moved, and said, “Dr. Helga Von Strauss and her three colleagues were reported missing about three months ago by the German government. I wonder where the other man is?” Lucy set the binoculars down and gazed at Johnny. “Von Strauss’s husband has had a reward out for any information on her whereabouts since they disappeared.”
“You just found them,” Dusty said.
“No,” Lucy said. “Gabriel Greene found them over a week ago, and I dropped the ball.”
“And Gabe didn’t tell you anything when he gave you the film?” Johnny asked.
“He only asked me to stay for a drink. Maybe if I would have stayed, he might have talked about his mission, and I would have been there when those creeps in gray …”
“Lucy,” Johnny whispered, “you can’t keep blaming yourself for Gabe’s death. You can’t save everybody.”
“I know. But I’d like to try.” Putting away her binoculars, Lucy got up and darted to the next clump of palm trees. “Come on, guys. We need to go rescue a few people.” She headed down the fence line. She wanted to see which building the prisoners had entered. It didn’t take long before she found the guards standing outside a door. The prisoners were gone—most likely inside.
Lucy set her pack down behind a bushy tree and reached for Johnny’s sleeve when he stopped next to her, turning him around.
Lucy slowly unzipped the backpack he wore and lifted out her first specialized piece of equipment she needed to use before she would even consider breaching the fence. After screwing the long extension onto the shorter barrel, she pulled the coiled CO2 line from inside the pack and attached it to the gun. A snap of a small hopper onto the top of the stock and the gun was ready.
“Lucy,” Dusty whispered, “Is that a paintball gun?”
“Uh-huh. There’s a surveillance camera I want to mask before we continue.” Lucy took aim at a palm tree’s trunk and took a test shot. The sound of air expulsing was minimal, but the benefit outweighed the slight noise the gun produced. “That’ll do,” she murmured.
Taking aim at the closest camera suspended on the overhang of a building, Lucy used Johnny’s shoulder to steady her arm. The black ball hit its mark, breaking apart and bleeding thick goo over the glass lens.
“Good shot,” Johnny whispered in their ears. “What happens if someone comes out to check on their cameras?”
“Then they get to sleep for a while, but we’ll deal with that if we come to it. Let’s go.” Lucy pocketed the gun into the backpack and quickly made her way to the fence. Unzipping a side compartment, she found a small box with two wires coming out from the bottom. The wires had metal tips. Crouching down next to the fence, Lucy turned on the voltmeter and held the leads in one hand like chopsticks.
“You think the fence is electrified?” Johnny asked, leaning closer to her.
She touched the fence with the metal tips. “Not anymore.” Looking up, she wrapped the wires around the box and placed it back inside the backpack’s compartment. “Since they didn’t have any razor wire on top, I thought they might be smart enough to at least make touching the fence painful for unwanted visitors. But I guess not. Dusty, get out the bolt cutters from your backpack.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
A pair of folding bolt cutters were in the main compartment of his bag. He opened the handles.
“Cut up from the bottom about four feet.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Dusty began at the bottom and clipped each link while Johnny held the fence, stopping the loud chinking the cutting would have otherwise produced. They went through the opening one at a time with Lucy going in first. She waited until Dusty had squeezed through last before handing him four carabiners. The metal loops, normally used to keep mountain climbers from falling, had spring-loaded gates and would hide their entrance while still giving them an easy exit. “Let’s close this up until we need it again, guys.” While both men worked to disguise their entrance, Lucy looked around for any cameras that could be seen from that vantage point. There weren’t any.
The windows with the bars on them also had curtains covering them from the inside, obscuring the interior. She knew that Von Strauss and two of her colleagues were definitely inside this one. Taking out the gun from her vest’s holster, she held it down by her thigh as she crept to the corner.
The two guards were leaning against the block wall close to thirty feet from where Lucy watched, smoking cigarettes and talking quietly. After a couple of cleansing breaths to clear her mind, and to steady her hand, she aimed and shot a Ketamine dart into the neck of the closest man. As he silently slumped to the ground, the other man swatted at the sting in his neck a moment before he fell on top of his buddy.
“Dusty, Johnny, go get them and bring them back here—fast.” Lucy stepped out and gave her friends cover with her silencer-tipped 45-caliber automatic while they ran along the dirt path. They had the two men behind the building before she let out her held breath. It was then that she took the time to take out two replacement darts from her vest pocket and slide them into her special gun. The high-powered dart gun designed for capturing escaped zoo animals held only four darts at once. Lucy didn’t want to use them up completely before reloading.
“Check their pockets,” Lucy whispered. “Look for keys.”
Johnny reached into the one man’s front pocket. “You holding up okay?”
“I’m trying not to think about me. Sunny needs us more than my silly fever needs attention.”
“Got some.” Dusty lifted a small ring of keys from the second man’s pocket.
“Good.” Lucy took them from his fingers and studied them. There were three keys. One obviously belonged to a vehicle. The Mercedes symbol stamped into the metal matched the large truck parked near the gate. The other two belonged to building doors. One interior and the other, a larger one, looked like a key to an exterior door. Could that door be the one they were guarding? Smiling, Lucy closed her fingers around the cool metal.
“How long will the sedative last?” Dusty asked.
Moving to the edge of building again, Lucy peered around to the front, toward the door again. “I’d guess about four hours.” Glancing back at the firefighter turned covert operative, she grinned. “At least that’s how long it would keep a horse asleep. Come on. Let’s go.” Lucy didn’t take more than a few steps before she saw movement across the courtyard. Two people headed their way. “Guys, get back behind the building—quick!” She heard their footfalls retreating, but Lucy didn’t follow them.
“Lucy—”
“Quiet!” Taking her dart gun out again, Lucy took careful aim at the man with his big hand around Sunny’s upper arm.
Sunny’s hands were behind her back. Lucy assumed her wrists were tied. It was too dark to see her clearly, but she wasn’t limping. Lucy considered that a good sign. They were halfway across the courtyard when the man hesitated. He was looking toward the door where the two guards were supposed to be standing watch. Lucy couldn’t wait any longer. She took her shot, counted to one, and ran as the man fell at Sunny’s feet.
“Lucy,” Sunny said, crying, “I’m—”
“Be quiet,” Lucy snapped softly as she took out her switchblade and sliced through the thin rope binding Sunny’s wrists together. Lucy then grabbed the man and began to drag him back to where she had the other men stashed. She made it as far as the door before Johnny moved her aside and took over. Dusty swept Sunny into his arms and carried her behind the building.
Lucy searched the unconscious man. Although she didn’t find Sunny’s phone like she hoped, Lucy did find the man’s passport and US currency in his pocket. She pocketed the ID and gave him back his money.
“I’m sorry to break up your reunion, but I need to know where Adam is.” Lucy tapped Sunny on her back. “Come on, get your head back in the game.”
Sunny turned her face toward Lucy. In the moonlight, the new bruises on her cheek showed up like neon, and she held her left wrist tight to her chest with her right hand. Lucy’s heart stopped when she let herself think what Sunny might have gone through. “I’m sorry,” Lucy said as she gently pressed her hand to Sunny’s shoulder, “but we don’t have much time. Where’s Adam?”
“They still have him. I’m so sorry, Lucy,” Sunny whispered. “I just wanted to help—”
“Don’t worry about it. This may have worked out better.” She motioned toward inside the building. “I want you to check on some people while I go get Adam, and then Dusty can—” Lucy glanced at her bruised face. “Dusty can check you out.”
“I’m coming with you,” Johnny said quickly.
“I know.” Lucy reloaded her dart gun. She then took the keys from her pocket. “Let’s all get inside this time.” She peeked around the corner of the building again. “Okay, it’s clear.” Lucy moved along the side of the building toward the door, keeping her stare on the center of the compound.
The guards’ weapons were still on the ground. “Johnny, pick up the rifles.” As he did what she told him, Lucy slipped the large key into the doorknob and gently twisted, eliciting a quiet click as the metal tumbler turned. Before she pushed the door open, she pulled her dart gun from the holster; only then did she step inside. The rest of her team came in immediately behind her.
The foyer was empty, lit by a single light bulb suspended from the ceiling. A small table and a wooden chair stood along one wall.
Lucy looked down the long hallway that ran through the center of the building. The dim light revealed four doors evenly spaced, lining both sides of the hall. They were closed and most likely locked. She noticed Dusty kept his gun at the ready. She holstered her gun and held out her hand, silently telling all three to stay put.
Lucy went to the first door. Kneeling down, she looked under at the small space between the floor and bottom of the door. The weak light meant someone was inside. Using the key with the small head, she inserted it into the lock and cringed at the audible click. Now she was committed. Whoever sat behind the door must have heard her turn the knob.
There was a single, low-watt light bulb tucked up against the ceiling in the center of the room, illuminating the woman lying on a narrow cot. Her blue eyes were rimmed in red and rounded from surprise, or fright. Her clothes were similar to hospital scrubs and very plain. When she saw Lucy enter she jumped up from her meager bed and stood like she was ready to run. Instead of fleeing out the open door, she stared at Lucy as if she remembered her from somewhere. Or maybe the look in her watery eyes was hope.
Lucy held out her hands, palms up, showing her she meant her no harm. “My name is Lucy James. Are you Dr. Helga Von Strauss?”
“Von Strauss?” Sunny asked, stepping into the small room. Lucy squinted a disapproving glare at the doctor for disobeying her order about staying in the foyer.
A flood of tears spilled over the woman’s lashes. “Yah.” Her lips quivered briefly into a hopeful smile when she asked, “Did my husband send you to rescue me?”
“No, I’m sorry. I’m sure he doesn’t know you’re here.” Lucy put her index finger to her lips. Stepping closer, she said, “A contact of mine took your picture last week, and now we’re here to take you home.” Glancing at the doorway, she saw Johnny watching them. She held back another critical stare.
Sunny asked, “Where are your three companions?”
Lucy didn’t expect more tears from the German scientist.
“We came here when we were told this facility was capable of handling genetic research. But when we got here, we were taken captive, and they wouldn’t let us go. When we wouldn’t cooperate with their experiments, they shot our partner in front of us and threatened to shoot my other partner if we didn’t help them with their research.”
Helga whispered as she reached out to Lucy, “How can—can you rescue us from here?”
Lucy gripped the woman’s cool hand and smiled. “I have a plan. Where are your other partners?”
The woman’s free hand went directly to Lucy’s forehead. “You are ill with fever.”
“Lucy has pneumonia,” Sunny said.
Sighing, Lucy nodded. “That’s why I’d like to get this done. So I can go home and crawl into bed.” Dusty stood next to Johnny, watching, when Lucy asked, “Do you know where your companions are being held in this building?”
Helga sat down on her bed and pulled on her shoes. “I don’t know which rooms Herman and Klaus are in, but I do not believe they share a room.” Reaching under her bed, she pulled out a single duffle bag. “I only see my room and the room where we are forced to do work.” She stood up, evidently ready to leave her prison cell.